Six Nations: Scotland's suffer hammer blow as France deal out harsh lesson at BT Murrayfield

Scotland’s Six Nations aspirations took a crushing blow at BT Murrayfield as a rampant France team defeated them 36-17 in Edinburgh.

The French ran in six tries to maintain their 100 per cent in the competition after three matches and are living up to their billing as pre-tournament favourites.

For Scotland, victory against England at the start of the month seems a long time ago, with this defeat coming on the heels of a narrow loss in Wales.

Scotland were competitive in an entertaining first half and scored a try via Rory Darge, but also failed to take presentable chances that came their way, notably when captain Stuart Hogg knocked on when the tryline beckoned.

France scored three tries of their own through Paul Willemse, Yoram Moefana and Gael Fickou to lead 19-10 at the interval.

The next try would be crucial and it was the French who got it two minutes into the second half when Jonathan Danty crossed the whitewash and a further two scores from Damian Penaud made it a comfortable afternoon for Fabien Galthie’s men, even if Scotland did grab a late consolation try from Duhan van der Merwe after a fine run from Blair Kinghorn.

Scotland are next in action on Saturday, March 12 when they take on Italy in Rome, before their tournament finale against Ireland in Dublin seven days later.